Harry Potter and the Silver Key
by Ardent LeFey
Summary: Harry has a chance meeting that will change his distant future. He knows this, but what he doesn't know is why or how it will be changed. This will be driven out of his mind, however, by Hermione's new obsession. Rated M for future chapters.


**Note:** Harry Potter and all related characters are owned by J.K. Rowling, whom I do not know and probably never will. The plot of this story is mine, as well as Breka, her brother Francis, and the remainder of her family. This only contains spoilers if you have not read Prisoner of Azkaban, and the story line of the existing Harry Potter books written by J.K. Rowling is still intact save for the detail of Hermione's summer and anything that I am adding to year three.

**SSSS**

**Chapter One: It Was an Ordinary Day**

It was an ordinary day. In fact, it was the most ordinary of ordinary days at the London train station. Busy, ordinary people went about there ordinary business, meeting ordinary friends and leaving to do ordinary things. Ordinary families waved to their ordinary children who were leaving for their ordinary schools in an ordinary train.

So it happened that a very _un-_ordinary thing happened. Only one of the ordinary occupants of the train even noticed it, there on platform 9. It was a small girl, aged four who held tightly to the hand of her mother. At first she thought she had imagined it. After all, Mummy always told her that magic was not real and that magicians only _appeared_ to disappear. Still, with the sharp mind of a four-year-old, Breka was positive that she had just watched a boy walk through the divider between her platform and the next. Not only did the boy melt into the bricks, his trolley containing a school trunk went with him!

After a few moments, she saw another! Then a few moments later, a girl disappeared into the brickwork. She was thoroughly confused now, but she wasn't quite ready to ask her mother to look for herself. That would, after all, mean another stern talking-to on the subject of reality. She thought it better to continue watching. Maybe she could get to the bottom of this one.

**SSSS**

Harry Potter shut his eyes tightly and steeled himself for his next task. He had performed this particular task twice a year since his first year as a Hogwarts student, after all. Well, every year save for his second. But that was an unfortunate event of which he distinctly did _not_ want to think. The key to success was a solid belief that he would succeed. It was with this frame of mind that Harry gripped his trolley and began to wheel it forward at a brisk pace. He opened his eyes, so as to see where he was going and to make sure that Hedwig's cage was secure. And, looking around for prying Muggle eyes, Harry walked right up, and through the platform divider marked with a "9".

He had done it, yet again, without being noticed. He stopped and looked around. He was on platform Nine and Three Quarters, and he could see many of his classmates milling about, catching up the summer news. He could also see the colossal Hogwarts Express. He did not, however, see his best friend Ron anywhere. He was about to wheel his trolley closer to the train when he felt something small collide with the back of his calves.

**SSSS**

_That's it! _thought Breka. She was tired of waiting this out. She wanted answers, and she wanted them _now_. She had just watched the tenth person disappear into that blasted barrier, and she couldn't count any higher than that. She just wasn't going to take it anymore. She had been watching the actions of the previous 7 people, and she knew when a person was about to perform their little "disappearance" act. First, they would stop their trolley about ten or twelve meters away from the barrier and stare at it for a minute. Then they would push the trolley right at it, as if they were going to crash, looking around the station at the last minute. Then they would just slide right into the barrier, like walking through a water fall. She also noticed that five out of those seven people that she had just watched had some kind of cage perched on top of their trunks. These cages mainly contained owls, but one of them had a big tabby cat in it. She had never seen an own in the day time unless it was at the zoo. _How strange._

So, when she saw the black-haired boy wheel his trolley to the invisible spot marked "start", she slipped her hand out of her mother's and silently went to stand behind him. He had his eyes closed, and didn't seem to notice that Breka was there. She heard him let out a kind of sigh and followed him as he started walking toward the barrier. She had to run to keep up with the fast pace that he was keeping, and it didn't help that her legs were much shorter than his. She was going to follow him right through that barrier if it was the last thing that she did.

There was no doubt in her mind that she would be able to make it through. After all, a four-year-old can do anything that an adult can. Any child knows that parents only say "no" or "impossible" because they can. So it was no surprise to her when she began to sink into the barrier, which melted away to reveal another platform with a whole group of people that had not been visible from platform 9. Breka didn't notice the boy she was following stop. She was too busy looking at the big red steam engine that was blowing smoke. She ran straight into the legs of the boy and fell to the floor, hitting her bum in a rather _un_friendly manner. She let out a squeal of surprise and promptly broke into fat little tears of angst.

**SSSS**

Harry Potter looked down at the thing that had struck him as it issued a high-pitched squeal, followed closely by a "humpfp" and a small thud. He looked down into a pair of the greenest eyes he had ever seen, apart from his own. They were wide with shock and confusion, and he could see large tears beginning to flow from them. These unusual eyes belonged to a little girl, her copper hair in pigtails with ribbons. Harry's heart melted at the sight of such a precious thing in pain. He instantly dropped to his knees and held out a hand to the girl.

"Are you all right, little one? Are you hurt?" Harry watched as the little girl nodded and held out her hand, palm up and extended to show to Harry.

"Sthink my 'and is hurt," she said through sniffles and tears. Harry had no idea what he should really do, but he had seen his Aunt Petunia coddle over her only son Dudley whenever he would pretend to be hurt. Going by that example, Harry should suddenly grab the girl and begin to wail with her while clutching her to his chest and removing her source of oxygen. No, that definitely was _not_ the right thing to do. Instead, he did something that he had, for his entire life, wanted someone to do for him. He reached for her hand, took it in his own, and put a small kiss where she had indicated that it hurt.

Immediately the tears stopped, and Harry's heart melted again when she gave him a weak smile. "Sthank you, mister," she said. Harry noticed that she was missing a single tooth in the front, causing her to lisp a little, and look all the more adorable. She was such a small thing, and Harry couldn't help but feel a little protective of her.

"What is your name, sweetheart?"

"Brek-a."

"Ok, Breka, my name is Harry. Where are your mummy and daddy?"

"Out there where we came from. I fowowed you here from there. Mummy is putting Fwancis on the twain for school and I sneaked away."

"Is Francis going to Hogwarts?"

"Ump-uh. He goes to speltings or sweltings, or somewhere." Harry stared at the girl, dumbfounded. How on earth did a muggle child ever make it onto platform Nine and Three Quarters? She was definitely a muggle if she had a brother going to Smeltings. That was Dudley's school. Harry was definitely making a visit to the headmaster as soon as he could back at Hogwarts.

"Why don't we get you back to your mummy, then? Ok? I'll take you back through the barrier."

"No! I don wanna' go back! I wanna know how people can go through the barr'er and why the twain is red and why you have owls."

Harry sighed, knowing exactly how she felt. "I promise that you will learn all about it when you are older. When you are eleven years old. You will get a letter that will want you to go to school at Hogwarts, the school where I go, and you will learn all about it there, ok?"

"All about what?"

"All about being a witch and how to live in the magical world." He wasn't sure how much he should say, but he just couldn't help himself.

"Rewl magic? But my mummy said that there is no such sthing."

"I promise that there is, but you have to trust me. You will get a letter when you are eleven."

"Pwomise?"

"Yes, Breka, I promise. But we have to get you back to your parents. And you can't say anything about Hogwarts or a letter, or even the things that you see here, ok?"

"Pwomise. I'll be a good girl."

"Ok, now let's go find your mum." Harry stood and took the small hand into his, leading Breka back through the barrier, onto platform 9.

Once she caught sight of her mother, the little girl kissed the back of Harry's hand and let go, running toward her. Harry watched as she slipped her hand into her mother's and with the other, mimed the act of zipping her lips shut and locking them with a key that she threw to Harry. He pretended to catch it while discretely using a summoning charm to materialize a real key, which he showed to an astounded Breka before placing it in the breast pocket of the shirt he wore.

With one last smile and a wave to Breka, Harry stepped back through the barrier and onto platform Nine and Three Quarters for the second time that morning. His trolley was just where he had left it moments before, and he began to wheel it toward the scarlet steam engine with a brain full of thought.

Harry hardly noticed when Ron came up beside him and accompanied him to a private compartment. With the doors slid closed, Harry took out the key and examined it. He hadn't been paying particular attention to the look of the key he was summoning, and he knew that the spell required you to be concentrating on the object being summoned. He had never been able to successfully perform the spell before, so he was just as amazed as Breka to see the little silver key appear in Harry's palm.

It was a pretty little key. Silver, with intricate knots and etching on its handle. It looked as if it could belong to an old Victorian jewelry box, antiqued and long forgotten. He wondered where it had come from. Harry riffled through his trunk for an old pair of Dudley's sneakers that were two sizes too small, even for Harry, and removed one of the faded, frayed laces. He used the _reparo_ charm to make it like-new and threaded it through the hole in the key's handle. It was a poor excuse for a chain, but it would do for now. Harry would buy a better one on his first visit to Hogsmead. He didn't know why, but he couldn't help slipping the makeshift necklace over his head. He just felt that the key was precious, and that it should be kept in a place where it would not be harmed- a place that was close to his heart.

**SSSS**

Ron Weasley looked over at his best mate and wondered just what was on his mind. He hadn't even noticed when Ron joined him in the crowd, much less his greeting. So he followed Harry to the compartment, stowed his trunk, and sat down, watching Harry's actions worriedly. Harry hadn't been this way earlier this morning. He had been in a jovial mood at the Burrow and on the way to the station. He had even joined in the fun of trying to catch Hermione's big, ginger "cat" named Crookshanks. Hermione had left Crookshanks with Ron's sister Ginny for the summer while she and her parents took a summer trip to Japan. It wasn't so bad to have the squashed-face cat around now that Scabbers was gone. Not Scabbers, Ron corrected, Pettigrew. That was a situation that still bothered Ron, and one that he definitely did _not_ want to think about.

It wasn't until they had all parted to enter the barrier between the muggle platforms that Harry had begun to act so strange. He was the last to cross the barrier, so Ron figured that something had happened to him after everyone else was through. It wasn't so much Harry's mood that bothered Ron. Harry had been more than a little moody since Sirius Black, his parent's murderer, had been announced missing from the wizarding prison, Azkaban. It was the key that he kept playing over his fingers.

Why Harry should develop a sudden obsession for a key was way beyond Ron's comprehension. It was an unusual key, he'd give that much to Harry, but he still didn't get why Harry alternated between stroking it absently with a thoughtful look on his face and gazing at it lovingly. Ron made up his mind right there that is best mate was definitely barmy, no doubt about it. That scar of his had probably addled his brain. Ron laughed to himself. Harry was turning into a regular Albus Dumbledore, the most insane and brilliant man Ron had ever had the pleasure to know. He decided to leave Harry alone, just in case he came up with something really brilliant, like how to make the key unlock nonexistent doors that led to rooms filled with all of Ron's favorite food.

Speaking of food, Ron's stomach gave a loud growl, causing him to wonder when the jolly witch with the snack trolley would be passing by. He was also starting to worry about his other friend, Hermione. He hadn't seen her since two weeks after end of term, when she had spent a few days at the Burrow before going with her parents on their trip.

"Is everyone gone mad?" Ron voiced his musings aloud, but Harry didn't even stir. That confirmed it. They were.

**SSSS**

Please review and let me know what you think. This is my first attempt, so I would really appreciate any opinions/comments that you have. Thanks!


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